Going For It

A lot has happened in just one week. The fatigue of juggling school, work and training finally got to me and I'll be dropping my class this week in favor of more training(hence the post title). As a result, I managed to put in some HUGE training last week that'll set me up nicely for a strong race at Tahoe. I can only imagine what Coach Jim has in store for me next week.

Work is still work: people contnue to swim wherever they plop their stuff down and we wind up herding them like sheep. At least I get paid and I work at the beach; please don't think I'm complaining!

My right foot is starting to bother me on long-ish runs. I'm certain my plantar fasciitis has flared up again from the high running volume. Nothing I can't roll out with a frozen golf ball, but still something worth keeping tabs on.

Good news! My filthy degenerate downstairs neighbors noved out! It's been eerily quiet ever since and I'm beside myself I'm so happy. Holly and I have been sleeping really well ever since. Nice.

Saturday I took the written exam for Park Ranger, Lifeguard Cadet. Supposed to take 4.5 hours, but I walked out in a little over 2 hours. I wouldn't call it diffcult, but you did have to read carefully and read all the answers before choosing one. Nice to see they want people that can think critically. Gasp!

Sunday I went for a ride and transition run in Los Penasquitos Canyon with homie James. I did some pretty decent work on the climbs and JW and I "noodled" the rest. He was beat from a huge ride the day before, so he was chillin'. Some serious bush trimming being done on a trail called "Tunnels" that has a canopy of small oak trees. I liked it when it was more overgrown: had an eerie feel to it, especially during night rides. Bummer.

Luke headed up to Big Bear for the Rim Nordic stage race this weekend. When I spoke to him Sat night, he was on his way to a strong result for the weekend with a win in the hill climb and a 2nd place in the dirt crit. Boy has a good shot at the Stage Race Overall and maybe the series points win for the whole summer. Good luck, dude!

Busy Bee

Huge training load, work and school mean my plate is overflowing. Sometimes I wish I could simplify things and focus on one thing at a time. No such luck.

Wednesday, I headed out to Los Penasquitos Canyon for a brick workout (riding and running) and ran into a fellow Xterra racer, Greg Zakowski. We chatted for a while and he convinced me to jump into a group ride meeting there in 10 minutes. Training by yourself gets WAY boring, so I figured "what the heck?"...then 50-54 Xterra STUD Lynn Trimble showed up...followed by Team Cytomax/KHS Pro MTB racer, Chuck Jenkins. At this point I'm getting worried, because these guys are FAST. And they're all riding high-dollar XC race rigs. Yeah; shaking in my shoes for sure. To my amazement, I stayed 2nd-3rd the whole ride and only crashed once. So it turns out I don't suck after all. Jenkins is amazingly fast through tight, twisty single track, but I'd expect nothing less from a Pro MTB racer.

Thursday I spent all day getting my truck fixed; 140 bucks later and it's running like it should. Huge thanks to my best bud, Alex for doing the labor for free. I owe him a six-pack of frosty adult beverages for sure.

Worked my butt off at the beach all weekend. Moved at least 200 people out of dangerous areas, talked half a dozen people in out of the water and rescued one person out of the surf. Each night I came home with swollen "cankles", exhausted, sun-kissed and dehydrated. Just enough energy to eat and pass out.

Alas, with so much work and school, I'm slacking off on my training. I need to simplify my life again to protect my sanity and maintain my relationship with my g/f. I may need to drop my summer classes, but I'm not sure how that will affect my financial aid for next year. We'll see.

Lifeguard/Ranger written exam on Saturday and maybe a day of on Sunday! Or I might work water safety for the Carlsbad Triathlon. Money is money and it's a short day.

Cheers.
E.

Update

Totally forgot I had some good news in the Lifeguard/Ranger department. I received a letter from the State Parks this weekend notifying me they accepted my application and tht they invited me to take the written exam for the position. Awesome! One step closer to getting my a$$ off Federal Financial aid/school loans and out of debt.

Don't panic, I'm still applying to P.A. school, I'm just glad the State liked my application and gave me the opportunity to take the exam. Nice to be excited about something again.

E.

"Spread it on!!"

If you've seen "Super Troopers", the above quote probably sounds familiar. I represents exactly how busy I am at the moment: between summer school, work and training, I'm pretty much hopping from one task to the next with very little down time between anything. I don't see it letting up anytime soon...

Let's talk about work.
The beach is heading into it's busy season; point of fact, 4th of July is this weekend and it's arguably our busiest day of the year. Thankfully, booze is no longer allowed on the beach, yet some people insist on drinking and swimming; if you can't have fun without getting sloshed, you have a problem. I've cut back on my hours to 32 a week, but with school and training, that's still a lot.

School.
Summer school starts today and I'll be in class three days a week for 8 hours a week total. It sounds like no big deal, but add in study time double that of class time and it starts looking insane.

Training.
I love training. There's nothing I'd rather do and if I could get paid to do it, I totally would. That being said, I'm laying my base for my build up to Xterra Nationals in Tahoe in October. My coach has me doing HUGE volume to prepare for it. If I manage to survive, I'll head into that race more fit than ever ad ready to do something very special. I'm worried about injuries, though (yeah, it's THAT much volume). I trust my coach, but this much training is new teritory for me by a lot and when I start getting into this many weekly hours, things start breaking down.

Anyway, I'm off to class and the three wotkouts I have scheduled for today. Told you I was busy..

Last thing: a friend of mine sent me an e-mail about pics he's put on facebook. I signed up just to view the photos and no I'm getting a zillion e-mails from people who want to be my "friend" that I haven't spoken to in 10 years. It's a colossal waste of time; don't drink the Kool-Aid.

E.

Deep Thoughts

A few notable passinggs this weekend. The one you've likely heard of is that George Carlin passed away from heart failure. If you're not familiar with his comdey, I highly recommend you check it out. Low-brow humor for sure, but edgy and thought provokin for sure. A man with the courage to criticize society; saying things many of us think about saying, but lack the courage to do so.

Additionally, NHRA drag racer Scott Kalitta died in a crash during competition. Sad to see that happen. I'm not a huge drag racing fan, but I've seen many races on TV and been to a few races in person. Enough to be familiar with the racers and feel saddened by Scott's passing.

As or me, I'm still struggling with working full-time and squeezing in all my training around work. How folks like Seth Wealing or Tom Evans (IM CDA winner on Sunday) hold down careers (Seth is an Architect and Tom a Dentist) and still train and compete at the Professional level amazes me.

A friend of mine once said: "Eric, it's is all about desire. If you want something bad enough, you'll find the money or the time or both to make it happen". He wasn't talking about racing, but his words definitely apply. I think it's good advice.

E.

Nose to the Grindstone

School is out and I'm back to working full-time on the Lifeguard tower. The past week since finals ended has been really hectic: working 40+ hours a week and trying to squeeze in training before work, on my break or after. Suffice to say all that is really taking a toll on me. I'm burning the candle at both ends and the fatigue catches up to me eventually; it's only a matter of when.

I'm writing this as I'm getting ready for work so I'll just update a few things. James killed it at Xterra East Championships. Were it not for Trevor Glavin at the West Championships, James would have won three regionals in a row. As it stands, he's won two in a row. Way to go! I'm still trying to figure out how to strap a 5 pound weight to his bike to slow him down. I have a feeling the reason he's doing all the regionals this year is to see how he'd stack up against the Pro field so he can convince himself to race Pro. So far, he'd be 15th or 16th as a Pro; not cashing any checks, but not dead last either.

Luke did well at The 12 Hours of Temecula, finishing 3rd in the Solo Expert division after some nutrition problems forced him to take an extended break after lap 5. He'd go on to finish 8 laps. Stud.

As for me, the Rim Nordic XC MTB race series starts this weekend and it should be fun, though my fitness isn't so great and I'm not likely to do so well. I have to remind myself that these are training races and not the sole reason why I train. Xterra Nationals are still a ways off and staying focused on that proves difficult.

Ok, off to work Lifeguarding. Here's a few tips to make my life easier and keep you from drowning.

1) Swim near a lifeguard tower
2) Ask the lifeguard where the safest place to swim is
3) Learn how to spot a ripcurrent and how to get out of it (don't panic, swim parallel to the beach until you're out of the rip and THEN swim in)
4) DO NOT use a body board (called boogie boards in my day) without FINS. On a boogie without fins you're basically driftwood. The most common rescue I make is someone on a boogie board in a rip current that doesn't have fins on. Buy 'em...wear 'em or leave the boogie on the beach.
5)Don't drink and swim. EVER! The vast majority of drownings had some alcohol in their system. 6) When the lifeguards go home, STAY OUT OF THE WATER. Your chances of drowning in unguarded water are many, many times higher when compared to guarded water.

Seriously it's an ocean, not a wave pool.
E.

Summer!

Finals are finally over. It's time to get things back in their proper order...

I took my last final this morning (Biochemical Structure and Function...yuck!) came home, ate something I can't recall at the moment, jumped in the shower, made it to Sprawl-Mart for some necessities came home and absolutely crashed. I vaguley recall Holly waking me up to say she was going to work. I woke up a little while later and deecided it's time to get the training back on track.

Over the last three years of school I've tried very hard to strike some kind of balance between Triathlon and school. What happens is that I focus on one to the detriment on the other and then the pendulum swing back the other way. I've had some sucess buy focusing on my studies near the beginning of the quarter when I'm still motivated. Unfortunately, by the time finals roll around, I'm in fantastic shape and I'm behind in my studies. At that point I disappear off the face of the planet for two weeks while I cram for exams. It's a vicious cycle and I'm still working on how to balance both more effectively.

Ironically, I start working immediately. I have one whole day off and it's right into 40-hour weeks lifeguarding until summer school starts up in two weeks; at which time I work on days I don't need to attend class. Throw training into the mix and sometimes I wonder how I get it all done...sometimes I can't get evrything done. Crappy.

If you've got a minute, check out James' 'blog; he's on an Xterra road trip with some of his buds and having a lot of fun. Oh yeah, AND he's kicking ass. As for racing, I'm skipping Xterra Tahoe City for financial reasons. Racing there looks fun and the timing was sure to positively affect my motivation, but money's tight and there's just no way it's going to happen.

Next race? Rim Nordic XC.

BTW, Luke is racing The 12 Hours of Temecula this weekend and, from his posts, he looks fit and ready to go. Get after it, man.

E.